Sleeping Beauty
by harrypotterettopyrrah
Summary: All I can see is her. The world around us stops. The room is abuzz with questions and movement, flashes of the reporter's cameras. But I can't see any of that, I only see Astoria. "You're awake." cannon pairings.
1. Crime and Punishment

When he woke up that morning, he knew. He stared at the grey ceilings and drab grey walls and felt a twist deep in his stomach. _Something terrible is going to happen today._ He wiped the sleep from his eyes and sat up on his dusty, roach infested cot. Ever since the war ended three weeks ago, him and all the other offenders have been kept in holding cells in the basement of Azkaban. He hadn't showered or even looked at another human, Draco could feel himself going crazy.

He stared at the wall for some time before a sliding latch was opened at the bottom of his door. Food was slipped in before the latch was quickly slammed shut. Sighing, he stood and snatched his stale bread, chunk of old ham and small glass of water. They were only fed twice a day because there were so many prisoners occupying the cells. His bones were starting to protrude in an unattractive, sickly way.

After a few more hours of wall staring, a note was slipped under his door.

 _"_ _You're to appear in front of the wizengamot council at seven in the evening. Look your best"_

His stomach twisted a few more times before he threw up his breakfast into a small toilet in the corner. He knew it! He was going to get sentenced to die. or worse, he was going to get the kiss! Something terrible was happening today. He read the letter six more times before throwing it to the ground. 'Look your best?' How was he supposed to do that? Frustrated he punched the wall a few times, making his knuckles bleed.

Draco didn't like feeling like this, so helpless and not himself. He was Draco Malfoy! He was raised to think of himself as the very best, yet in this small box he felt lower than scum.

He didn't deserve this! Not many people know this, but he defected. Yes, he was a death eater and yes, he had that hideous dark mark on his forearm, but during the Final Battle. He fought against his people. He chose to fight for the light side because he couldn't stand living his life the way he was. Only a few knew, and were equally surprised. Lavender Brown had been the first to notice that he was aiming his curses at the ones in black, but she was dead. So were everyone else that could bear witness to this! He wanted to kill himself in that moment, he was so ashamed of everything he'd done. And he was too late to make it right.

 _The Wizengamot Council finds you guilty on 37 counts of use of unforgivable curses. But due to your allegiances changing before the final battle. And of Narcissa Malfoy saving the life of Harry Potter. You are relieved of thirty of those punishments. The other seven will result in a 12 million galleon fine as well as volunteering at St. Mungos to help those wounded in war for one year. Court adjourned._


	2. Reaping and Sowing

2 Months Later

After I straightened my tie for the seventh time, I left the manor in route to St. Mungos. I was to start my volunteer work as payment for my past. They'd given me 8 weeks to sort out the manor, the Malfoy business and to get healthy again. I'd regained my previous weight and looked normal once again. Though when I looked in the mirror, I could still see how empty my grey eyes were. In the past, my eyes were my worst enemy. They conveyed all my emotion, almost annoyingly. But now as I look into my mirror, nervous out of my mind, I see… nothing. They are empty, depthless, just like me.

I sigh before grabbing my things and flooing to the lobby of that retched hospital. It's not that the hospital was bad per say. I just hate the sick and weak. Making my way to the receptionist, I straighten my tie yet again.

"Um, miss?" she looks up and her eyes widen. With my bright blond hair, unfortunately I am easily recognizable. I can't tell if she was one of those people who think I got off too easy or the kind who is charmed by how I switched sides. Unfortunately, I ran into the former more often than not. "I'm volunteering here, who should I report too?" She simply points to a small dark woman in the corner. "Thank you." Her wide eyes follow me as I make my way down the hall.

"Draco Malfoy." the woman states when I reached her. "I'm Dr. Bale. I heard that you were going to be under my care. We usually don't have too many purebloods around here helping out. You all barely know how to lift a finger without a house elf." she glares at me. Flaring my nostrils, I glare right back. Waving me off with her hand, she starts walking down the hallway, talking still "Nevertheless I will _try_ not to act prejudice, even if I am. Your job is to simply talk to the patients and make them feel better, help them out with daily activities, nothing more got it? These are your scrubs, and here are the charts of the patients we will be helping today. Read them over, I expect you to know every thing about your patients by the time we start in thirty minutes. You can get changed in there." She hands me the clothes and a stack of four binders before pointing to a small locker room. I calmly leave to change, even if I feel like walking out of the hospital right then. _So_ this _is what it's like to be judged by my blood_ a small voice in my head whispers. My navy blue scrubs fit nicely and make me look quite handsome if I do say so myself. I say a quick hello to the other volunteers in the locker room. They are weary of me, I don't even get a single greeting. Idiots. I decide that it's okay if they fear me, maybe they'll do my work for me. I choose the locker closest to me and put my things inside. A small kid, no more then 15 squeaks before scurrying back outside. Angrily Flipping open the charts, I skim through my patients. I notice I am on the long term care wing. Great. I was hoping to just distribute potion creams or do some simple healing spells. I have no idea what I can possibly do for these patients.

Amelia Lobef- Hit with a curse that reacted badly with her brain, her organs can no longer function without the help of magic.

Taylor Moon- Severe case of OCD. incessantly repeats things and doesn't stop moving. Will only sleep if sedated or body shuts down from exhaustion. Must be fed through magic as she will not stop talking or moving.

Jones James- Arms and legs were blasted off during an explosion. He's currently undergoing the long and painful treatment of regrowing them.

Carter Westlian- Suffers from severe depression. Has to be fed through magic and will not move or talk. Has been a patient here for almost a year and a half and her condition is unchanged.

Great just bloody great. I got two nut jobs, and two gimps. I have no sympathy for these people. I honestly have no sympathy for anyone. If you can't figure out a way to take care of yourself, then you should just go somewhere and let mother nature kill you off like you should be. Long term care patients were the weakest of them all.

I resigned myself to accepting that this next year was going to be terribly annoying. Just as I was thinking this, Dr. Bale slammed her fist on the door repeatedly.

—

Well, suffice to say, my first day didn't really go as planned. I got taken off every singly case I was put on. Okay, firstly, that Amelia chick was just too damn nice. Like what the bloody hell is wrong with her? No one is that nice without some ulterior motive. I told her so and I made her cry. So that went over well with Dr. Bale. Then mr. gimpy James wouldn't even let me into the room because he was so terrified of me. Apparently, some death eaters caused him to lose his arms and legs and he is terrified of all of us, no matter if we were sixteen and forced into it. Whatever. Then I tripped and spilled food all over the depressed freak. I had made progress with her but this caused her to go into a zombie like state again. Finally, I had no patience for the OCD girl, five minutes into my time with her I ended up screaming at her to just sit still. She was getting on my last nerve and I snapped. Dr. Bale sent me home early and said she would have to figure out something else for me to do. She was all condescending and disappointed. I really dislike her.

So here I am, sitting alone in my big empty apartment. I know I should be unpacking, but I just don't want to. I'd moved out of the manor about a week ago. The halls were just too empty and the memories were too painful. My mother lives in a cottage by the sea. She seems happy enough, though she still misses my dad and visits him often in Azkaban. I've yet to go see him as there is nothing to say. I blame him for everything that went bad in my life. It all started before sixth year. I was taken into the death eaters by force and given the impossible task of killing Dumbledore. I almost died from the stress of it all. And then my plan finally worked and I thought I would feel relief but I only felt regret. Then Dumbledore died and everything that happened that night was my fault. I still feel terrible for that night because I know that some of my classmates had been harmed. Hogwarts used to be a safe place to people, but I ruined that. I ruined everything. After that night, nothing has been the same.

After a night of no sleep, I pull myself out of bed. Getting up nowadays was so pointless, what was the point of anything. Sighing, I dig through my boxes that are still left unpacked and pull out some clean clothes. I shower, dress, and fix my hair before grabbing my things and head off to my own personal hell hole.

—

"Your one and only patient today will be Sleeping Beauty. Now this is my favorite patient, who also happens to be the easiest, so you shouldn't be able to mess this up. Hopefully." Dr. Bale stares me down.

I roll my eyes. "So what? She just sleeps? Whats wrong with her?" I ask. I am getting tired of Dr. Bale's constant judgement of me. None of this was my choice…I didn't mean to mess up so terribly yesterday, really. I am just not a people person, nor have I ever claimed to be.

"That's the strange thing, there isn't anything wrong with her, at least nothing we can find. She's seventeen now but was hit with a curse in her fifth year at Hogwarts. No one knows what curse it was so we have no way of knowing how to reverse it."

This piques my interest. So this sleeping girl is a year younger than me. So that means I was in my sixth year when this happened to her. "If there was some accident at Hogwarts, wouldn't I have heard about it? Especially if she's been sleeping for two years?"

Dr. Bale nods and sighs. "Unfortunately she was attacked when all those death eaters got into Hogwarts, you know, the night Dumbledore was killed. Her family didn't want anyone finding out about her in case some death eaters came back to finish what they started. But most of her family died and so now she has no one to really spread the word. She's our little mystery." She smiles fondly before leading me to the room. My stomach is in knots. I hate myself. I really do. I bypass the room and head straight to the toilet and vomit up the contents of my breakfast. It's not common knowledge how the death eaters got into the school that night. But I know. And that unforgivable truth is screaming in my head.

It's my fault this girl has been asleep for the past two years. It's my fault.

Eventually, I have to leave the bathroom. I slowly exit to find Dr. Bale waiting outside the door. She has a 'what the hell?' look on her face.

"I'm sorry ma'am. I uh really had to pee." she stares at me for a minute more before walking back in the direction of sleeping beauty's room. I can't go in there. I can't look at this girls face and know that I caused her to lose two years of her life.

"Mr. Malfoy! Unless you want to quit this program and decide that Azkaban is a better place for you, I suggest you come in here and attend to your patient!" Dr. Bale yells loudly from inside the room. With the thought of those cold grey walls, I take a deep breath and enter the room."Now, as I was saying, this is Astoria Greengrass. But we like to call her Sleeping Beauty based off a muggle fairytale you probably know nothing about. These monitors here," she points to wide screens beside Astoria's bed, "show her brain activity. She likes to be talked to, when there is talking in the room, her brain activity goes up.

"Now, we don't actually know if she can hear anything, but her vitals seem to do better when she gets talked to regularly. See how this monitor is at 15?" Bale points to another monitor on the side of the bed, this monitor has green waves, their height is measured to the right of the monitor. "It's usually between 13 and 17 when someone is in the room, it depends on her mood. When she's alone, those monitors drop to a 10. We like to keep those numbers up because it is better for her. Now I know that's a lot of information, but basically, your job is to talk. Just don't touch anything, got it?" She sweeps out of the room before I can even ask her if she's crazy.

So an unconscious girl, does better when she's talked to? Yeah right, sounds like a bloody coincidence if you ask me. Well, this is a easy job. I pull up a chair and set it next to her bed. I glance at her monitors, it says she's at 14, which is within the 'good' range. I set an alarm on my wand to alert me if anyone is thinking about entering this room, then I tip my feet up to take a nap.

—

The day went smoothly. My wand alarm woke me before Dr. Bale stuck her head in to check on us. This was at 11:00. She was concerned that Astoria's numbers were at an 11 but pegged it to a bad day. I left for lunch and ended up sitting alone. Which didn't surprise me. All the other interns sat at a table clustered together and whispering furiously, by the glances I was receiving, I knew they were talking about me. I stabbed a carrot forcefully while glaring hard at them, that shut them up. I spend the rest of the day with Sleeping Beauty because I have to earn my trust back with Dr. Bale. Before I was due to leave at 5, I start to talk to myself, because why the hell not. I talk over what I need to do when I get home, what groceries I need, and what I have to handle in response to my duties as CEO of Malfoy Inc. Before I leave, I glance at the monitor and am surprised at the number. 18.

For the next few days, I pay little attention to Astoria. I use my time sitting at her side to get some things done. I bring in some paperwork from the office and settle into a nice break, this type of easy work keeps my mind from over thinking about the girl lying on the hospital bed in front of me. And the fact that I'm the reason she's there. I finish my work before lunch, take my hour break and then return with a nice book. Before Dr. Bale's daily check each day at 4:30, I spend some time reading my books aloud to Astoria. Two birds one stone.

At lunch the next day, the cafeteria is over crowded. It's family visiting day or some other stupid shit like that. And as we are on the Long term care floor, there are a lot of damn people. I snag an empty table and glare at anyone who thinks about sitting with me. One brave soul ignores my glares and sits down right across from me. It's squeaky boy from the locker room.

"Hi." he squeaks again in an annoyingly high voice. I don't respond but he refuses to be discouraged. "My name's Remy. You're Mr. Malfoy, right?"

I curl my lip at the little twit. "Mr. Malfoy is my father, you know, the one in prison." I growl at him. He audibly gulps. "My name is Draco, but I bet you already knew that."

"Right, Draco, sir. well i'm volunteering here because I want to be a healer when I grow up. I think it will be awfully good practice working here. I would love to cure curses or invent new healing potions someday… why are you volunteering?"

I stare at the boy. He really should just stick his foot in his mouth. That would be better for him. "I was sentenced to a year of this because of all my crimes" I try to say it menacingly, but Remy has caught the case of the hiccups. It's extremely hard to intimidate a freakishly small boy bouncing in his seat and making funny croaking sounds. I can't help it, I crack a small smile.

"Oh, th- _hiccup-_ at's really- _hiccup-_ cool! I mean- _hiccup-_ not cool, but nice that they- _hiccup-_ didn't make it much- _hiccup-_ worse." I stare increduously at this Remy boy. He was the exact opposite of me at that age, though I reckon that's not a bad thing. I pull out my wand and point it at him. He looks scared for a moment, until I mutter the charm for ridding someone of hiccups.

"Thanks! You know, I wish that they allowed students to use-" the rest of the hour continued this way. Remy must have realized that I wasn't much of a talker, so he took it upon himself to fill the entire hour with his ramblings. I acted disinterested, but if I was honest with myself, I enjoyed the thought that it was kind of nice to have someone talking to me again, besides my mother. I returned to Astoria's room after my lunch with Remy and read her more of my books at the end of our time together.

By the end of third day of doing this, I realize that maybe Dr. Bale isn't as wonky as I previously thought. Sleepy's vitals and numbers are really stronger after she has been talked to, or just simply not alone. Over the next few weeks I make it a challenge to myself to see exactly how strong I can make her numbers. Astoria doesn't like it as much when I simply talk to myself and not at her, her numbers stay at a 15. But when I read to her, they spike up to 17. But her absolute favorite is when I tell her about my day or what I'm feeling. On those days, when I really let her in, her numbers spike up to the 20's. Something Dr. Bale had never seen before. I feel really proud, that I can make her happy or at least I think I'm making her happy.

Remy continues his lunch time ramblings, occasionally getting me to respond, and I spend the rest of the day with Astoria, talking her ear off the way that Remy does to me. I hope I don't annoy her though. On a particularly rough day for me, I find my solace in Astoria. She's becoming as important to me as eating, something that I need every single day to feel normal.

"…and ever since then I haven't quite looked at him the same. Because he was supposed to be the one person that wouldn't let me down. Your dad is supposed to be someone you can count on, to do what's right by you and your family, but he just thought… I don't really know what he thought honestly. Did he think that choosing to be a death eater was so important that he would risk my mother's life? and mine? I mean, I always knew he was prejudice but I didn't think that he wanted to, you know, kill the muggleborns and all these other people.

"I'm not saying that I'm all for whatever this muggle lover trend is that's happening, but I wouldn't want to kill them. I don't know if I'm just not as strong as he was or not as hateful. I like to think that I can be soft sometimes, we're all humans. I realize that now. It took a war, and you, I guess to beat it into my brain…but I feel remorse and guilt now. I'm not used to them being normal emotions that normal people have. In my world, you weren't allowed to have emotions, though you probably know that huh? I believe you grew up in a pureblood family just as prejudice as mine." She didn't answer, but her numbers were teetering between 19 and 20. She likes when I talked about my family or myself.

"Astoria," her numbers spike to 22, she likes when I say her name, "are you one of those pureblood's that hate everyone and everything. I'd like to think not. You're much too pretty, and you look really kind. I don't know you, but I knew your sister." I pause and look over at this girl, she really is stunning. "Daphne was very mean spirited if you ask me. She always complained of her weak little sister, but I wonder now if you were just nicer than her. I hope so…I really hope so." I take a minute to just look at her. She looks like Daphne. She has long soft blonde hair, a trait that she shares with her sister. That was where the similarities stopped. Astoria has a strong jaw line and high cheekbones. Her lips are slightly fuller on the bottom and she has long white eyelashes. I wonder what color eyes she has. Her sister's are a beautiful green but her mom is known for her ice blue eyes. I wonder which she inherited? I haven't worked up the nerve to actually touch her. She seems so fragile, like one touch could break her. She's on multiple spells to keep her muscles from deteriorating, but she still looks thinner than she should be. In a word though, Astoria is beautiful.

Every time I look at her face, I am overwhelmed with emotion. Guilt, sorrow, relief, but mostly…rage. How can one person make me feel so much? I hate myself for what I've done, the pain I've caused. But I also hate her for making me feel this way and reminding me of it all over again, every single day.


	3. Not Forgiving and Forgetting

Three months into my punishment I decide to take a long weekend and visit my mother. I haven't seen her much lately, just for a spot of tea once or twice a month. Dr. Bale has assigned me two more cases because she believes that I am more compassionate now. I'm not really, but I can see that all the doctors faces are overcome with strain, they have been working nonstop since the end of the war and could honestly really use my help. My guilt that I feel for Astoria is seeping into all these other areas of my life. She makes me feel all of these emotions that I'd honestly rather live without. Remy continues to annoy me each day, and I'd kill anyone who mentioned it, but I'm growing fond of him as well. I don't know what's happening to me. I leave Remy to look after Astoria while I'm gone. He's very excited because apparently he loves solving mysteries, and Astoria is the perfect one. I warily tell him not to actually touch her and say my good byes. Remy is bouncing a little too eagerly by her side for my taste but I choose to leave him with her anyway. Astoria might like his silly chattering, she must be getting bored of me by now.

The October sky makes the beach look absolutely stunning. My mother's cottage by the sea is small. It really doesn't fit her in my opinion. She's the type of woman that commands power just from her presence. She's the woman you see managing her mansion and hosting fancy dinner parties while make it look simple with her easy grace. And while she's never been the nurturing type, I have never doubted her love for me. She's been different since father was imprisoned. Aunt Andromeda says it's because she sees what life Lucius set me up for and was disgusted at this. And although she'd never say it aloud, she knows now that Lucius was a terrible husband and father. Despite this, she still is very much in love with him and their relationship has never been better. I don't ask about Lucius and Narcissa doesn't offer any information on the matter. I intend to keep it this way. She may be in love with him, but I sure as hell am not. I knock on the wooden hesitantly. I wanted to surprise my mother but now I am doubting that idea _What if she's not even here?_ When I start turning around to leave, questioning my so-called intelligence, the door is opened.

"Darling! Why didn't you tell me you were coming?" My mother is delighted and greets me with a warm hug. I stiffly hug her back. _My mom is_ not _a hugger._

I rub the back of my neck as I make my way inside behind her. "Uh, yeah, I wanted to surprise you. I hope it's alright if I stay for the weekend?" My mom chuckles at my awkwardness. Again, my mom is not the smiling or laughing type, or at least she's never been before. I barely recognize the woman before me. She looks like my mother but I've never seen my mom look so _happy_ before. I guess the world really does keep turning.

"Of course! Stay as long as you like! Come in, come in. We can have tea and you can tell me all about your time at the hospital." She smiles warmly and sweeps me into a parlor to the right of the door. She acts as if volunteering at the hospital is a choice of mine instead of a punishment for torturing people. I choose not to burst her bubble. Her house elf, Dazzy, brings tea and bows qucikly, nose to the ground, before leaving.

I start in on my time at the hospital. I tell her about my patients and Dr. Bale. I mention Remy and the little girl who likes to accompany me on my morning rounds. I try to keep my face the same throughout my monologue, but I must've given something away.

"So tell me about this girl you have a crush on. I can see it in your eyes, is it a nurse? a friend? What aren't you telling me Draco?" My mother smiles into her teacup, mischief in her eyes. "Am I to expect a wedding soon? It really does get boring around here, what would you say to maroon and-"

I sigh before cutting her off. "First of all. Hell no to maroon, what am I a bloody Gryffindor? And secondly, I am not dating anybody nor do I have a crush on anybody, I don't know what you're talking about." I sip my tea and try not to show emotion. I can't have a crush on someone I've never properly met, right?

"Mhm, whatever you say Draco, so tell me more about this Remy kid…" My mother drops the subject but I can tell this is not the last I will hear about it. We continue our tea in amiable conversation until the late afternoon.

"Well dear me, look at the time! I am to meet the neighbor in ten minutes! We have plans to visit a local gardening store together. I can cancel if you want…" My mom stands and starts to collect her things. The offer to cancel is just her pureblood politeness, I can tell she really does not want to cancel. "Don't worry about it mum, I'll unpack and have a shower and when you get back we can have dinner or something." she smiles gratefully and hurries out the door. I look around the cottage, taking my own tour and seeing how my mother lives.

The shower was just what I needed. I used the hot water to distract me from the stress of the past few weeks. As much as I loved being around Astoria, she made me sick with guilt, some days I spend at home just staring into my fire and thinking about how much of a terrible person I am. I shake those thoughts from my head and focus on the hot shower and the thought of dinner. After I shower my mother still isn't home so I decide to make my way to the beach. Slipping off my shoes, I step into the cool sand. There are only a few other people on the beach but I pay them no mind. I walk and walk along the shoreline, thinking of nothing else except the chilly ocean breeze and damp sand beneath my toes. It doesn't take long for Astoria to seep into my thoughts yet again, but instead of the usual guilt that follows her in my mind, I am simply thinking of what she would be doing right now, if she were here with me. Her long blonde hair would probably be up in a bun with wisps surrounding her face and moving in the wind. She'd probably have a large sweater on and get closer to the water. Her nose would be slightly red from the cold and cheeks delicately flushed. I wonder again what her voice sounds like, it is probably light and airy. She seems so delicate in every sense of the word, though I have no idea what her personality is even like. She could be a cruel and horrible person who wanted the Dark Lord to rule for all I know.

I decide then that there is no way I can have a crush on Astoria. I have no idea who she is. I may like the idea of her and what her getting better stands for, but I do not actually like her. I enjoy speaking to her, but who knows if she'll even want to hear me talk when, or if, she wakes up. I simply care for my patient and want to see her get better, nothing more. I return to the cottage and my mother is already there.

"Are you ready to go darling? I thought we could go to a muggle restaurant that I have grown fond of." Again I am amazed at my mother's transformation, but I don't say anything and just nod and we walk down the boardwalk. We pass many people along the way and my mother seems to know everyone. Narcissa Malfoy, forever the perfect socialite, even in a muggle community.

The waiter seats us, gives us our menus, and brings us water. As I browse my menu I feel eyes on me, as I look around I realize it's only my mother "What?" I snap irritably. I hate when she looks at me like that.

"Oh, nothing. I just haven't seen you in a while. And you just look different. I don't know what's different, but something is. I haven't seen you this happy since you were 14. Just wondering where that came from." she muses and continues to stare at me.

I sigh and try to ignore her speech. "Maybe, I look different because I don't feel the stress of being a bloody death eater anymore mother, have you ever thought about that?" I fail at ignoring her speech, obviously.

"Yes, well that could be it. But it's not." What the heck? Is my mother all knowing? I find motherly intuition extremely annoying.

"But it is. So can we just drop it already?" The waiter returns before my mother can scold me for my sass. As he leaves with our menus, my mother levels me with her signature glare. Our interruption unfortunately didn't affect her.

"Now listen to me Draco Cygnus Malfoy. I understand you are obviously in denial about something but that is no reason to speak to me like this. You are different. You can lie or make excuses all you want, but I raised you Draco, I am not dumb. So I will leave it alone until you are ready to talk about it, but rest assured, you _will_ talk about it sometime in the future with me. Got it?" I give her a quick yes ma'am. "Good. Now how is the company doing? I heard that profits were low this month…" our conversation continues and I feel warmth and gratitude toward my mother. She loves me more than anyone in the world, and she may not say it all the time, but her actions show it more than anything.

The next day at lunch, my mother brings up the subject I had successfully avoided for five blissful months.

"You're father has been asking about you." She says casually, as if she was commenting on the weather. "I don't tell him much, I know you like your privacy and if you wanted him to know everything you'd tell him yourself… He misses you though, he wants you to visit." She peers at me, trying to decipher my face. I know it's not betraying my emotions because i don't feel any. It's not surprising. After years of being hurt by my father and his actions. He can't hurt me anymore.

"I would rather not talk about him mother." I say curtly.

"We have to speak about it at some point Draco. I would like to know how you're feeling. He is your father after all." She pats my hand like I'm going to start crying over dear old dad.

"He is nothing to me anymore mother. And I won't talk to you about it because I feel nothing on the matter. He is a bad man and he got what he deserved. He is out of my life for good. And I would like to keep it that way." I storm out of the cottage before she can retort.

It's a few hours later when I decide to make my way back to the cottage. The ocean helped calm my brain and settle my nerves. Unfortunately, during my time of reflection I must have walked a few miles. It was going to be a long journey back. The night is beautiful, I can see all the constellations in the sky, even the one I as named for. I've never thought about what I wanted to name my kids when I eventually have them, but I seem to think about it more and more as I have gotten earlier. I suppose it never crossed my mind before because I was young…also I never thought I'd actually grow old. Now that it is a possibility, the thought of having children someday is terrifying. _Will they hate me for the things I've done?_

"Ey! Sexy Albino! over hereeee!" I hear a girl's slurred speech up on on the sand. I try to ignore her. "Hey where are ya goin? Come baaack." She jogs to catch up with me. "Wha' are you so upset abou'? she giggles stupidly. I stop my pace, hoping against hope that she will recognize and be scared and run away, I am not in the mood.

Unfortunately, the muggle girl has no idea who I am. "Wanna come back to our beach house? We're havin a par-tay!" she laughs again, spraying me with spit. _ugh._

 _"_ No thank you. I am kind of in a rush back home." I try to leave again but she grabs my arm.

"Oh no! do ya have a wife or somefing?" I immediately think of Astoria. _ugh what the fuck is wrong with me? I've never even met the girl._ Anger and something else flares up in my chest as I walk briskly away from the drunkie. My fast pace has kicked her off my trail after a minute or so. Thank Merlin.

Finally back at the cottage, it is well past midnight. My mother is still awake and waiting for me in the living area. She says nothing.

"I'm sorry I ran away like that. Maybe we can revisit the subject in a few years, but I can't. Not right now."

My mom's eyes swim with tears, she looks at me with a grim face. "He may not have a few years."


	4. Talking and Listening

Something very exciting may or may not happen next chapter (wink wink) nuff said. Anyway thanks for the reviews and support, they mean a lot!

JK rowling gets all the credit for this amazing universe. I do not own anything you recognize.

Chapter 3- Talking and Listening

So my father is dying, whip de do da day. What does my mom expect me to do? Cry? My father would have gladly given my life up in sacrifice to the Dark Lord if that would gain his approval. I don't understand why I am supposed to be sad. So Merlin or whoever the hell was up there was giving him his dues, who am I to mess with that?

Anyway, my mother wasn't too happy with my attitude about it though. We got into a fight and we yelled and I ran away back to my actual flat. She sent me an owl afterward, I didn't read it. I suppose I will have to go and make amends with her someday. But that day is not today, nor is it anytime in the near future.

Let's be clear, I do not hate my father. But with that said, I still think he's a horrible person and I never want to see him, ever. But that's just how I feel right now. I may not feel like that in twenty years when I have a wife and some kids. I liked the idea that he would always be in Azkaban, giving me time and space, but when I was finally ready, he would be there, waiting. And now he's even taking that comfort away from me, he always ruins everything. I know it's kind of messed up to blame him for you know _dying._ But oh well, I need closure, and I'm not going to get that with him. Unless for some reason he can live through his disease for a few years. (Which apparently, he can't)

I spend all of Sunday on my couch. I read and watch some muggle TV. (Don't judge me, that shit is addicting. I've been binge watching a bunch of old muggle shows) Blaise originally bought me the TV for my birthday, I was disgusted. Doesn't he know who I am? He had got hooked after he watched it a few times after, uh he had relations with some half-blood. And now I'm obsessed with it too, even if muggle were mostly incompetent, they did get this right.

Monday morning rolls around too quickly. I dread waking up so early in the morning. But, I am excited with the thought of seeing Astoria and Janie again (Janie is the little girl who lives on the floor, she likes to follow me around while I do my work. Strangely, I don't mind her.) Hell, I'm even looking forward to seeing Remy again. I must be going insane. Astoria has done okay over the weekend with me, but her numbers are not at their usual standard when I'm around. As I peer into her room window, Dr. Bale strides up to me.

"Remy has been talking her ear off all weekend." She looks a little exasperated but still amused. "Sleepy likes him well enough, I think she just likes company in general, I think we all kind of bore her though. Well, except you." She stares at me through narrowed eyes, like I'm a puzzle she can't solve. "She seems to like you, I can't fathom why, I've told her who you are. But she doesn't care. Whenever your name is mentioned, her numbers spike." She grunts this unhappily. I know she'd rather it be anybody but me that makes Story happy. I grimace at her and she walks away. Dr. Bale is really short and rather annoying but she intimidates even someone like me.

"Draco!" Remy calls to me as I open the door to her room. Astoria's numbers change from 15 to 18. "You're back! Sleeping Beauty is so fun to talk to! It's almost like she can hear me!" He says with a goofy smile.

I glare at him. "She _can_ hear you." I state this as a fact, even though I'm not sure about this. Remy nods and continues to babble about their weekend, as if they went out and had awesome conversations. Remy is used to my glares by now, they don't even effect him anymore. He doesn't catch my drift that I want him to stop talking and leave. I try and glare harder, this makes a muscle spasm in my neck.

"Remy you can go now. I'll see you at lunch." I basically growl this at him. Okay, maybe my eagerness to see Remy was misplaced. He chuckles at me and skips out of the room. _Hufflepuffs_ I sneer at him in my head.

"Hey story, you'll never believe the weekend I had." I say as I talk the now unoccupied seat next to her bed. I delve into my story, glad to have someone to talk about all of this with. Her numbers are in the 20's by the time I finish me tale. She really does like when I talk about myself. I hesitantly take her hand, trying not to break her. I have nothing else to say but I don't want to leave yet. 26. That's the highest it's been, well, ever. I smile at her, wishing she would just open her eyes or at least squeeze my hand back. I need to know that she can hear me, that I'm not crazy falling for an unconscious girl.

A few days later, after lunch, the scene I come upon as I enter Astoria's room is different. Janie is sitting on Astoria's bed, near her head. At first I'm worried that she is hurting her, no matter how irrational that thought is, it still scares me. But then I notice the brush in Janie's hand along with a small box of colorful hair ties and bows on the nightstand next to her. Lastly, I notice Astoria's number is at 19. That's the highest it's ever been without me in the room. _So she likes to have her hair done._ I smile, I really like learning things about her, since she is unable to tell me herself.

"Hey Janie, what are you doing in here?" I smile at the little girl, she's maybe eight but extremely small for her age, she looks to be about four, but she is too smart for that. That's why she's on the long term care floor. Apparently she's been living here for years. She stopped growing at two years old, she's being treated, but it's a long process. I can tell by the bows and wacky ponytails sticking out every corner of her head, Astoria is not Janie's first client today.

"Dr. Bale said that because you have other patients now, Tori is really lonely. So she said I could come do her hair but I had to make sure she liked it first, and see?" She points her chubby little finger at the monitor. "she loves it. I already painted her finger nails…but I'm not very good at it." I look at Astoria's hands and see a massacre of pink. It looks as if Astoria's fingers were chewed on by a warklesnout. "Will you help me fix it?" Janie asks quietly, unshed tears in her eyes.

"Of course" I say quickly, crying kids and women were not my specialty. I vanish the polish off of Story's hands before picking up a nice blue color from the bucket. I set in to paint her nails. I feel totally emasculated but Astoria's numbers are climbing, I grit my teeth and do this for her.

Unfortunately, this is how Theo finds me when he opens the door. Theodore Nott had been my friend since we were children. He stayed out of the Dark arts and I still am jealous of him for that. I haven't seen him since the war, and I wish we could have been reunited without a bottle of nail polish in my hand.

"So this is what they've reduced you to?" He laughs and comes over to give me a manly one armed hug. I laugh back and give him a fake glare.

"Hey! When Janie tells you to do something, you do it." I chuckle at him and sit down to finish painting Story's nails.

"Yay! We needed more help! Here," Janie hands Theo a bottle of nail polish, this time purple, and points to Story's toes. "You can get started on her toes and we'll be done in no time! Thank you!" Janie smiles happily before giving Theo a hug around the knees. Theo has always had a soft spot for kids, he always wanted a little sibling to look after. He looks like he might protest before Janie gives him another dazzling, grateful smile. He grunts, conjures a chair, and sits down to paint Astoria's toes.

I laugh at this scene, big Theo Nott, painting a girl's toes at the command of an eight year old. This is just too great.

"Shut up Draco, I couldn't say no if I tried. Who is this girl anyway?" Theo asks.

"Um this is Astoria, she went to Hogwarts, a year below us. You know Daphne? This is her sister." I already knew that Theo knew Daphne, he dated her during sixth year. "She got cursed when the death eaters got into Hogwarts a few years ago, she's been asleep ever since." Even Theo doesn't know that I let in the death eaters that night. He looks like he's thinking hard about something before he finally speaks a few minutes later.

"Daphne broke up with me at the end of that year because of some family crisis. She never told me what it was about, huh, I guess now I know. I wish Daphne were still here." He says this solemnly. Daphne died in the final battle. After that, her father went insane with rage at their mother, as she had let Daphne fight. Mr. Greengrass ended up murdering Mrs. Greengrass when he found out about Daphne's death. He hasn't been seen since.

The rest of our nail painting time is spent in silence. Theo stays in the lobby while I finish up checking on my other two patients. After my shift is over, we decide to go for drinks and maybe some dinner.

"So my mother sent you?" I ask after we've been given our food. Theo and my mother were pretty close, after Theo's mum died when we were seven, my mother kind of adopted him. Theo spent more time at Malfoy manner than he did with his drunkie father. Unfortunately that meant that Theo was often trying to get information out of me for my mom.

Theo nods solemnly, "She's really upset you know. No one else in the whole world is sad about your father being ill, she thought she could at least have you to grieve with."

"Well she does't. Karma is a bitch, he's getting what he deserves if you ask me." I say this with my old school like arrogance.

"Draco.."

"No, don't Draco me. You may have had a bad father too but at least he didn't offer you up to the Dark Lord. You've no idea what you're talking about so just leave it alone okay?"

He analyzes me with his eyes, taking in my tone and facial expressions. If he finds anything in my face he doesn't say it. "Okay, we won't talk about it then. Did you hear Blaise's mom is trying to arrange him into a marriage?"

I'm thankful Theo drops the subject. We spend the rest of the evening talking about old classmates and how things have been going since the war. It's easy to forget about things and my life when I'm not at the hospital. Though as much as I love forgetting my past mistakes, even for a few hours, I can't stay away. Astoria needs me.

A few weeks later, I decide to bring in a magical music player for her. I've simply run out of things to talk about and resorted to talking about nothing, she doesn't like this very much.

I bustle into her room and set up the player. "Hey Story, I've brought music today because I thought you might like that. I would say just let me know which kind of music you like… but you can't, so uh, just you do you and I'll keep track of your monitor and take notes."

Classical music-14

Country-11

Pop- 16

Jazz-18

Hip-hop- 11

Reggae- 16

Rock-14

I laugh a little as I look at what she likes. "Okay, so you like jazz, pop and reggae really well, kind of like classical and rock, and completely dislike country and hip-hop." I say with amusement, "I'll have to remember that for when you wake up." My smile quickly fades as I realize with dread, she might never wake up.


	5. Falling and Flying

Here's the next chapter guys! Thank you for your reviews and favorites! They really make my day.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any character/plot you recognize.

Chapter 4 - Falling and Flying

It happened again. When I woke up this morning, I knew. Something terrible was going to happen. And yeah I know I've had this feeling before and nothing really bad actually happened. But this… this is different. This is an actual pain in my _heart._ Like my body knows before I do that something is going to end.

I walk into the lobby of the hospital, the atmosphere feels different. There's more noise than normal, more chaos. My stomach drops to the floor. _I need to get to Astoria. I need to get to Astoria._ Her room is a flurry of doctors and shouts. "What's happening!" I yell over the noise. Dr. Bale finds me in the chaos.

"Something changed over night, the magic helping her stay alive isn't working anymore. Her body just isn't responding anymore." she gives me an apologetic look before scurrying off into the crowd to help.

"She's crashing!" "Somebody come over here we need to enter manual potions!" I need some help over here!" "Her pulse isn't there"

The world keeps going on around me. But I can't move. I'm frozen, rooted to the ground. Astoria is dying. I might never get to say I'm sorry. I might never get to make her better again. I'll never see her eyes, or hear her laugh. I won't know her favorite food or her biggest pet peeve.

I get crashed into by one of the nurses and it snaps me out of my daze. I rush over to Astoria's side and grip her warm hand tightly in mine and whisper in her ear, "Come on Story, you're not done yet, _We're_ not done yet. I need you here, please don't leave. Please, please, please. Just hold on baby girl, I know you can do this." there are tears in my eyes but I don't care. Someone pushes me away from her and instructs me to wait in the waiting room.

I feel empty, lost. She's the only person I have in this world. The only person who listens to me and I enjoy being around. I know I sound bloody crazy, how can someone who you've never officially met and has been asleep for the past two years become the most important person in your life? Well I don't know how it happened. One day, Astoria was just some sleepy patient. And now… now she is dying and we've never actually met. The thought of not ever meeting her constricts my heart painfully. I _need_ her to wake up.

After three tortuous hours of waiting and worrying. Dr. Bale interrupts my pacing to update me, her face is grim. _No._ My stomach drops to the floor and I know it shows in my eyes. "No, now calm down she's stable, for now." with a sigh, Bale takes the seat nearest to me, I join her and wait patiently for her to continue. She lightly grabs my hand before continuing. "She's got maybe a week left." she says with her voice breaking. "We've been fighting off the effects of the curse she was hit with for years, but I think it's just too much. Her body is not responding to the magic or potions anymore. If we could only know what the curse was." Bale looks forlorn.

"Well then find the damn curse!" I hiss at her.

"You don't think I've looked in every bookstore and library in Britain? Every medical journal, rare curses, and there's nothing to be found! It must have been an original or something. I know this is hard but you should probably go see her… before you know…"

But instead of making my way to Astoria's side as I should have. I walk out of the lobby. I have a plan.

—

Malfoy Manor. I shudder as I arrive at the front gates. So many things have happened here that still haunt my nightmares. Like the ball room where Granger was tortured, the dungeons where countless terrible things have happened, but the worst place of all was the library. I love to read, don't get me wrong. But growing up with a father as mean as mine, he had to punish me somehow. Father would make me study all these potions and healing spells in the library. Then he would harm me, sometimes painfully and violently… and I had to figure out how to fix myself. Sure, he said he was doing it to protect me, and although it did come in handy a few times… The library still held numerous traumatic experiences in my mind. But that was exactly where I was headed. Because although Dr. Bale is smart she must not be as smart as I thought. It was a death eater who attacked Astoria. Do you think a death eater would use a curse you can find in the public library? No, death eaters stuck to the dark arts, something Dr. Bale knows nothing about. I, on the other hand, know way too much. And frankly, death eaters are too dumb to make up original spells.

If this curse existed. It would be in the library, I just had to find it.

Thirteen hours and six destroyed books later, I'm still coming up with nothing. While I'm pacing in the study, a beautiful brown owl flies onto the open window sill and cocks his head while sticking his leg out. I sigh, put down yet another book, and walk over to him. After I retrieve the letter, he flies away, obviously instructed not to wait for a reply.

 _Mr. Malfoy,_

 _I understand that you were upset after learning about Astoria's prognosis. Unfortunately there is nothing to be done. You still have six months before your sentence is up. I expect to see you here in the morning or Azkaban will be notified._

 _Astoria's numbers are at an all time low. She could really use someone right now. I was hoping it could be you._

 _Dr. Bale_

I crumble the note. When the thought of Astoria dying enters my brain, I feel more lost than I've ever felt before. Even more than when I was in my Azkaban cell. My darkest hour, during my sixth year, doesn't even compare. This girl, this beautiful, young, innocent girl is going to die. Because of me. Curling myself into a ball, I let my tears freely fall.

I stay up all through the night. I don't want to waste anytime on myself. I have to find Astoria a cure, or I know I will never forgive myself. Not that I deserve it.

Seven o'clock arrives and I enter the hospital. I didn't sleep, change my clothes or eat. I can't bring myself to care. Dr. Bale however, has somehow grown to care about me I think. When she sees my appearance, it's obvious she knows that Sleeping Beauty affects me more than I let on.

"Did you get any sleep?" she tenderly asks. I know I probably have huge black bags, yet again, I don't care at all.

"How is she?" I say, ignoring her question. I can tell by her grim face that nothing has changed. I nod before walking quickly to Astoria's room. It may be my imagination, but she already looks different. Her skin is pale and sallow, and her hair seems to have lost its color over night, it no longer holds it's shiny golden streaks, just boring yellow now. My face crumbles as once again I'm crying. My father would be so ashamed. I walk slowly to her side and grab her hand.

"Hey, Storia." I whisper. My voice is crackly and I can't stop sniffling. "It's me, Draco. I came to see you, I'm sorry I've been away so long." Her monitor is at a five, the lowest it's ever been, and it hasn't changed since I've talked. That alone scares me the most.

"Can I tell you something?" I ask her quietly, of course, she doesn't answer. I just need something from her, anything. A twitch of the fingers, an irregular breath, anything that would show me that I'm not crazy and caring so much for practically a stranger. "Why did you do this? Why did you make me care for you, and now you're just gonna die? You can't leave. you can't." a sob rips through my chest as I cry into her shoulder. "Please, please don't die. I need to say I'm sorry. I didn't mean for you to be hurt like this. I'm so sorry." Again, I'm too overcome with tears to speak. Sorrow and guilt fill my lungs until I feel suffocated. It's almost like all those years of feeling nothing have piled themselves up inside and are now trying to break free. "Story, you mean too much to me. You have to stay, and then you have to wake up. Dammit, I need you. Please baby, I need you." My heart is hammering at an unhealthy rate, my head is dizzy as I start to hyperventilate. The only thing in my mind is Astoria's face, it's cold and her chest is no longer moving. I keep picturing her dead, even as she lays before me, alive. I can't see anything that's actually real anymore. Panic seizes in my chest.

"Dr. Bale! Come quick! Something is wrong with Mr. Malfoy!" I can hear the nurse calling for help, but I can't see her, even her voice is fuzzy. I can only picture life without my Astoria, can only feel my heart pounding in my head as I become more lightheaded.

I hear faint voices and my head swirls dangerously before a needle is jammed into my arm and the world goes black.

—

When I finally wake up, I choose not to open my eyes. As my senses slowly come back to me, I realize where I am. I'm in Astoria's room, I know this because I can hear her monitors and feel her warm hand in mine. A cot must have been set up next to her bed for me. I open my eyes and confirm all of this. I've had panic attacks before, but I usually get them when I'm alone. I try not to feel embarrassed that other people have seen me like that, it doesn't work.

After a few hours of laying with Astoria, Dr. Bale comes in and ruins it. She's happy that I'm okay but asks no questions, which I'm thankful for. Despite being desperately tired, I know what I have to do. I kiss Astoria's head before leaving, Dr. Bale said I will be relieved of my duty on the hospital this week if I am searching for a cure. I can see the hope in her eyes but I try to not to notice it. One more person I will probably disappoint. I spend a full three days combing through every dark arts book in the Malfoy library. I take only two cat naps a day and eat whenever the elves bring me food, which they try to do often. I only manage a few bites of each meal though.

My cheeks and bones are starting to protrude like they did in that Azkaban cell. I know my eyes are red from reading and loaded down with dark bags, but Astoria is more important. I decide to grudgingly take a break and visit Astoria. Dr. Bale is to inform me if she gets worse or you know dies. The only thing that kept me going was the absence of the brown owl. When I enter the halls, Dr. bale quickly finds me, hoping for good news. Unfortunately, I have none to give to her.

I sit by Astoria's bed, again trying to raise her numbers like those first few weeks. That feels like forever ago now. So much has changed. Dr. Bale is talking to me, updating me on how Astoria's been since I've last been here, but I'm not really listening. "Mr. Malfoy, I know you're worried but you really need to take time for yourself" she says, patting my tense shoulders. I nod tersely and continue memorizing Story's face. "You know, I heard something about an experimental drug being tested in Sweden for sleeping patients like Ms. Greengrass." my ears perk up at this. "They said something about this plant, called nightshade. It is used to put people to sleep but they're trying to reverse it's effects." My body freezes. Something sounds familiar, it's wriggling in the back of my mind, but I can't seem to figure out what is so damn familiar about that. and then it clicks.

 _"_ _Pay attention son, why can't you seem to figure this out? No wonder a mudblood is able to beat you at everything." My father sneers at me. We're in the library again. Doing more of his punishments. Summer vacation just started and he's found out that yet again, I'm second in my class. Behind bloody Granger. Why couldn't it be anyone else? Instead of some damned mudblood. Maybe he wouldn't be so mad._

 _"_ _Now think. What does_ _Solanaceae do?" I frantically search through my healing books but I can't find it anywhere. Tears well in my eyes as another smack hits my back. Since he said this healing spell cannot be done by the person it afflicts, he would just hit me with a cane instead to instill motivation. "Are you crying? You better hope that if this spell is ever used on you, I'm around to fix you. I hope that I don't get hit with this spell because I know you'll be utterly useless." He sneers again. The pain in my back is excruciating. I can barely focus on the words of my page. I know I only have another minute until he hits me again. My shaky hands frantically flip through the pages. I found it! I read the passage from_ 100 magical plants for fighting against the Dark Arts: _"Solanaceae can be used in many potions. It's most prominent use is putting people into a coma. A rare use for this flowering plant is against the use of the Debilitas curse. This curse is known for slowly deteriorating the body while keeping the brain fully intact. The victim will be fully aware with no ability to move. The victim will die in three months, though with the help of magic, victims have been known to live for a year. Solanaceae is the main ingredient used in the only known potion to cure this curse (see pg. 43)_

 _"_ _-_ they're not exactly sure which curses it cures but maybe we can contact the Swedish Min-"

"What is the proper name for nightshade?" the words fly out of my mouth. The chair scrapes against the floor as I stand up quickly, abruptly cutting her off.

She's startled, "What?" I sigh frustrated. I feel frantic and elated at the same time, hope rising in my chest.

"Nightshade, isn't that a nickname? What's the proper name?" I tap my foot impatiently.

"Um, I think it's Sol-something, I'm not really sure, why?"

That's all that I need. I race out of the room and quickly make my way back to the Manor. Back at the library, I run to the back of the room and tear those old healing books out and search frantically for _100 magical plants for fighting against the Dark Arts_. Of course! Bellatrix loved to stun people before she tortured them. I always thought this was really strange considering you can't remember anything while you're stunned so the torturing seemed pointless. But now it all makes sense! Bellatrix must have been using the Debilitas curse this whole time! So the victim could feel everything but not stop it! My smile is huge and I feel the happiest I've ever been. Finding the book I flip through the pages trying to find the potion directions. Here it is!

 _The Debilitas Antidote_

 _Preparation time: 4 days_

My mind stops as I see the prep time. _4 Days?_ But it's already been four days since Astoria starting getting bad! Dr. Bale said she _maybe_ had a week. Did that mean less than a week or more? Dread fills me. What if I find the cure, but it's too late. I look at the list of ingredients before apparating to Diagon Alley. I can't waste anytime.

I spend the next fourteen hours cutting and preparing all the ingredients perfectly while still trying to be fast. I can't afford mistakes but I also can't waste any time. While the potion is to brew for four hours before being stirred, I send an owl off to Dr. Bale:

 _I found the cure. Keep her alive for Four more days. -DM_

Not even twenty minutes later Pernie, my house elf, informs me of a woman requesting entrance at the gates. It's Dr. Bale. When Pernie returns with her, she's a blubbering mess. I hug her awkwardly as she thanks me over and over again. I then inform her of all that I know about Bella's favorite curse, where I found it, and how the potion making is going. She's so happy that it's kind of contagious. I smile too as she leaves a few hours later. She promises to keep Astoria alive, she'll do everything she can. I've spent so much time trying to either save Astoria or just talking at her, but I've never really thought about what it would be like to actually meet her, face to face.

After four long days of worrying. The Potion is complete. I look at the instructions on how to give it to her before dashing off to St. Mungos. It's three in the afternoon, Dr. Bale should still be there. Astoria better be there when I get there too. Hope tangles in my stomach as I make my way to Dr. Bale and hand her the potion. Together we enter and see Astoria, still breathing.


	6. Victory and Defeat

Chapter 5 - Victory and Defeat

The room collectively holds their breath. Her numbers are increasing but her eyes remain closed. _Come on Story! Open your eyes!_ Her eyes are moving beneath her lids. I'm frozen to my spot next to her. In a moment of weakness, I grab her hand. I need this to work. Her small fingers squeeze mine. I stare down at her hand in wonder. She moved! I gasp and look up.

Astoria's ice blue eyes are locked with mine. All I can see is her. The world around us stops. The room is abuzz with questions and movement, flashes of the reporter's cameras. But I can't see any of that, I only see Astoria, _she's awake._ This is surreal, I can't believe this is the girl I have been talking to for these past months, the girl who knows everything about me. Well, I _think_ she knows everything. Who knows if she could hear me while she was sleeping? A wave of nausea hits me. _What if she doesn't remember anything?_ What if she's the most important in the world to me, but I'm a stranger to her. I retract my hand from hers. She can't know that I'm so bloody obsessed with her. Not until I know that she knows me. Our disconnected hands seem to startle her out of her daze. She looks around the room in wonder and happiness. She looks as if she is seeing for the first time ever.

"Hi Astoria, I'm Dr. Bale I know this is all a bit overwhelming but I need you to answer a few questions, is that all right with you?" Astoria nods slowly as she searches Dr. Bale's face, memorizing it.

"Do you know who you are… Do you know that your name is Astoria Greengrass?" Again Astoria nods. Dr. Bale is asking her yes or no questions so she doesn't have to speak just yet. "Okay good, do you know where you are?" Astoria looks around the room and at all the doctors and nurses nearby.

"Am I in a hospital?" Astoria croaks out. Her voice is scratchy from not using it, but nonetheless, she has a nice voice. I could listen to her all day.

"Yes, you are! Very good." Dr. Bale smiles genuinely at her favorite patient. "You were brought into St. Mungos after an attack at Hogwarts."

Astoria nods solemnly. A nurse hands her a large glass of water. We all wait while she drinks, giving her time to think. "Yes I remember, I was in the hallway when Bellatrix attacked me."

I see red. If Bellatrix wasn't already dead, I would kill her myself. I kind of guessed that it was her, but to have it confirmed makes me furious. I hate my aunt, I hate that I'm related to such filth. I hate that she hurt Astoria. Right now, I hate everything. Well except Story.

"Yes, that was very tragic. But Mr. Malfoy here found the counter curse, you'll be better in no time." Astoria looks at me, searching my eyes. I know she wants me to say something. I look away. Dr. Bale continues, "Do you know how old you are?"

Astoria looks puzzled at this. "Well I'm not exactly sure. I was attacked when I was fifteen, but I know some time has passed. I'm not really sure how much though. When I was laying there, trapped in my head, time seemed to move slowly." She sneaked a peak at me again, I continued to stare at the wall. _So she could probably hear me. She knows everything about me. A stranger knows everything about me._ The thought makes me physically sick. "Please tell me I'm not like twenty or something" Astoria rushes out quickly.

Dr. Bale smiles quickly, "No, you're seventeen. It's been two years." Her words hang in the air.

" _Two Years!_ But, that's not possible. I- I lost two years of my life?" Astoria's eyes fill with tears. Her monitors start beeping as her pulse begins to quicken. "Wait, what happened? With Harry Potter and You-know-who?" She frantically looks around. Dr. Bale grabs her hand, trying to calm her down. I continue to stare at the wall.

"Harry Potter defeated You-know-who. There was a battle at Hogwarts about six months ago." She frowns. "A lot of people died. But he's gone. He's gone for good."

My eyes cut to Astoria's face. I'm relieved when she smiles. If she had been some crazy Voldemort supporter, then my whole view of her would have been wrong. But she smiled, I smile in response. Our eyes meet again. She looks away this time.

"Okay, I think that's enough excitement for you right now Astoria. Get some rest, I'll send up some food and you can relax for a bit." Dr. Bale motions for everyone to exit the room. When I enter the hallway, Bale is waiting for me. "Can you stay in there with her? I need someone to keep an eye on her, and you've grown close to her over these past few months. I also think she should hear it from someone other than a doctor, you know about her family?"

This lady is ridiculous "So you want me to tell her that her mom and sister are dead and her dad fled the country? Why on earth would I do that? She'll hate me!"

She stares me down. "Look, Mr. Malfoy. She needs a friend. I get the feeling she remembers everything. And if that is true then you are the only person she has in this world. And I believe she's all you have too. So suck it up, and be there for her." Bale stomps away. I sigh before turning to the door. Taking a deep breath, I walk back to Astoria.

She stares at me as I walk back to her side. The silence is deafening. We study each other, I'm trying to match up this new girl in front of me with the girl I had created in my mind. I feel shy all of a sudden. _Do I look okay? If she remembers, do I look the way she pictured?_ Merlin, I feel like I'm back in Hogwarts again with a little school boy crush. Not that I have a crush on her, but that's how nervous I feel. My stomach is in knots, my palms are sweaty. Merlin, I need to pull myself together.

"So uh, how are you feeling?" I ask her without looking into those eyes. She doesn't answer for a moment, making me look up at her. She has a small smile on her face.

"Oh, just marvelous. I mean, I missed out on two years of my life. But other than that I'm fine." she chuckles. "And um I wanted to say thank you, Draco. For talking to me every day. I really appreciate it."

A blush rises to my cheeks. Rubbing the back of my neck nervously I reply, "Oh so you remember everything huh?" I smile but inside I am cringing.

She laughs before nodding. "There's no need to be embarrassed. That just means we can skip all the getting to know you part of friendship." She laughs again, a beautiful smile gracing her features.

I smile shyly. "Well that's not exactly true. You know everything about me, but I know nearly nothing about you." I try my best to be charming, but I think I come off as a bit creepy. I tone down my smile a bit and adjust my tie, again.

"Well that's true. But honestly there's not much going on with me. In case you haven't noticed, I've been laying in a hospital bed for the past two years, my social life is not exactly anything worth mentioning." I chuckle at that, but I don't know what else to say.

Silence envelops us again. It's awkward. "You know, you were never this silent before." She quips at me, smirking. I try to stop it but my mouth quirks up.

"You were." I deadpan. She's silent for a moment so I chance a look at her. Her mouth is gaping. I feel stupid for making a joke like that, _too soon Draco!_ But she surprises me and breaks out in laughter. Her laughter is choppy and filled with intermittent gasps. It's a beautiful sound. A goofy grin breaks out over my face. And let me be perfectly clear, Malfoy's do _not_ smile, we smirk and sneer, but _never_ smile. Well, I guess I really have changed.

She calms down enough, to where she is just lightly chuckling. "Oh, It's nice to laugh again." She smiles, looking up at the ceiling wistfully. I'm not sure how to respond, so I don't. I watch her face, and I can see it slowly crumpling. Tears begin to pour down her cheeks.

"Astoria?" I ask worriedly, jumping up from my seat. "Are you in pain? I'll go get-"

"No! I mean, no thank you, I'm fine, truly. It's just-" She sniffles and wipes her nose on her sleeve. "It just hit me you know." She hiccups slightly, voice wavering. she's silent for a few moments before whispering "Where's my family?"

My head snaps up and meets her knowing eyes. I look at the floor. Shit. I really didn't want to tell her. I hoped I wouldn't have to. "You can tell me Draco. I know something happened to them." She says, trying to act brave but her eyes betray her. "They haven't visited in a long time, and I have heard a few confusing comments about them…"

I sigh deeply before settling into my chair next to her bed heavily. "Are you sure? I mean you only just woke up, we could do this another-"

"I need to know." She cuts me off again. "Please." We lock eyes for a few moments before I slowly nod. I briefly consider lying to her, but decide against it because lying is not a good way to start out a relationship… not that I wanted a _relationship_ with her, just, I meant friendship, aw fuck it.

"Daphne and your mother are dead." I'm hoping short and sweet will make it easier. It doesn't. Her face crumples and tears fill her eyes.

"And Daddy?" she asks hopefully through her tears.

"He hasn't been seen in a few months, they think he's in hiding somewhere in Norway." I say.

Her face is confused. "But why would he- hiding? What? Why is my father in hiding? What aren't you telling me?" Her crying is more intense now, making her hard to understand. I quickly silence her monitors, as those are getting increasingly annoying.

I sigh before continuing. "Well. ugh fine, I really didn't want to be the one to tell you this. Promise you won't hate the messenger?" I try to lighten the mood, needless to say it doesn't work. Astoria nods, urging me to continue. "Daphne fought in the final battle. The one where Potter defeated Voldemort." She flinches at the name but doesn't interrupt. "Apparently, your father had to go away on business that week. I believe your mother went to Hogwarts when she found out what was going on, I think she was going to get Daphne. But, the battle was already started, and Daphne was already dead. Your mother went back home, devastated. When your dad got back, she told him." I gulp. She's crying once again.

"He, uh, he went a little mad when he found out Daphne was dead. And, he blamed your mother for her death…" I don't want to say the ugly truth. Astoria's eyes are closed. Her face is blank, like she's trying to block it all out.

"So he killed her then?" she asks quietly. I nod before realizing she still has her eyes closed.

"Yes." I say solemnly. She's sobbing now, and I want to comfort her but don't know how, so I just sit there awkwardly.

"I would like to be alone now." she says quietly, not meeting my eyes. I'm about to protest but she beats me to it. "I don't hate you, I promise. I just- I would like to be alone." She tries to give me a watery smile. I nod and exit the room.

The next few days were very difficult. I don't know how to act around Astoria, so I've settled for just avoiding her. This proves difficult as I only have 3 patients. And now that she's awake, my duties include bringing her food, and walking her around the unit so she can get adjusted to her legs again.

On one of our many laps around the ward, she finally confronts me.

"So what's up? I woke up three days ago and we have barely had a conversation. Why won't you talk to me?" I shrug. She lets out a frustrated sigh before continuing. "Fine, if you want to be all quiet now and avoid me then I guess I'll just have to do the talking. And since I don't really have anything to talk about, I guess I'll have to talk about you." She finishes with a smirk that resembles my own.

I slowly raise an eyebrow at her. What could she have to say about me? For some reason, my palms start to sweat. _What if she says something bad about me? What if she doesn't like me like I like her?_

"Go on." I tell her in my most Malfoy-ish drawl. My calm composure shows none of my inner turmoil.

"Well, let's see. The last significant thing we really talked about before I woke up was the fact that you and your mother were in a fight over a certain father figure in Azkaban."

My face immediately shuts down into a cold and indifferent face. I do my best to guard my annoyingly expressive eyes but I must have failed on that front.

"Ah, I see I've hit a nerve." She smiles triumphantly at me. I say nothing and she continues. "I get that you must not talk about this kind of stuff with anyone, and probably only told me because you thought I'd never wake up." she states. She's not wrong.

She continues, barely noticing that I haven't answered. "But I am awake now and I can finally tell you what I think. You see, when you would tell me things like that, I always was trying to talk back to you, to pitch in my thoughts, but obviously I just couldn't. So now that I can, you are just going to have to talk to me about these things."

I silently wonder if she is just so used to one sided conversations that the fact that i'm not even participating in it doesn't faze her at all.

"So here's what I think, Draco Malfoy. You are probably the dumbest person I have ever met." She states in such a sure way it makes me halt our walk around the ward and automatically let out a scoff.

"Excuse me?"

Never in my life have I been called dumb. I was not a dumb person. I am instantly offended.

She laughs a little at my expression "Don't take that the wrong way!" she chuckles.

"Is there a right way to take that?" I ask with a sneer, still highly affronted.

She slaps my arm and continues laughing at me. She hasn't caught on that I don't think that whatever this is, is funny.

"Oh, Draco?" She asks sobering up quickly. "I didn't mean your intelligence. I meant that, you have a perfect opportunity to say good bye to your father. I would kill to get the chance to say a proper good bye to any of my family." She says with downcast eyes.

"Don't pull that card with me." I say sharply. "I get it, your family situation sucks. Yeah. But it is nothing like mine so the two can't be compared. You actually loved your family and they loved you. My father didn't care if I lived or died as long as it got him into the Dark Lord's good graces."

Astoria rolled her eyes. "Oh please. I get that your dad did horrible things but don't try to act like he didn't love you, or you didn't love him. For the first few years of school all you could hear was 'My father' this and 'My father' that. You loved him. And like it or not he loved you too in his own sort of way. He's made mistakes and he's a coward. But going to see him would not be for his benefit, it would be for yours." she huffs at me. She even added a little foot stomp to the end of her lecture.

I glare as hard as I can at her. she has no right. It was different when I talked to her about these kind of things. She was just someone to listen, a diary almost. He didn't need nor want her opinion.

"He does not love me. You have no idea what you're talking about Astoria." I grit out through my teeth. I glare once more before pivoting and leaving her in the hallway alone.

This just goes to show you what talking to people did. Well, I've learned my lesson, _that_ won't happen again. I won't be talking to her or anyone about my personal life ever again.

Author's Note:

I'm not going to try to come up with a bunch of excuses as to why this took me so long so I'm just going to say sorry!

I did have major surgery though and am just getting back into the swing of things. I swore to myself that I would see this story to the end and I plan on keeping that promise so bear with me. I should have some free time within the next week so expect an update then.

If anyone has any ideas they'd like to pitch or something they'd like to see then please let me know in the reviews or by PMing me! I have a serious case of writer's block and that's why it was mostly dialogue.

Thank you for reading! Please review!


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